Chapter 6: The Woman Who Wasn't Supposed to Talk
Marcus called Dr.
Anand himself.
She arrived within four minutes, which meant she'd already been nearby, which meant someone on staff had already flagged the room.
She checked the baby's heartbeat first.
Strong and steady.
She checked my blood pressure, pressed gently along my side where the pain had been sharpest, asked me to describe it in my own words.
"Pressure," I said.
"Like something being forced down."
She wrote something in her notes without looking up.
"Any cramping since?"
"No."
"Good." She straightened.
"The baby is fine.
You may have some bruising along the lower rib.
I want you to stay the night for monitoring."
"I was already staying the night," I said.
"Now you're staying for a different reason." She looked at Marcus.
"I've been informed about the footage.
Administration is involved.
I want you to know that whatever happens next on the legal side, my only concern right now is Khloe and the baby."
"Thank you," Marcus said.
She left.
The room felt quieter without her.
Marcus sat in the chair beside the bed and put his face in his hands for a moment.
Just a moment.
Then he straightened and looked at me.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"For what?"
"For not seeing it sooner.
She was always around.
Always finding reasons to be wherever you were.
I thought she was being a good friend."
"She was very good at looking like one," I said.
His phone rang.
He checked the screen and stood up.
"It's the attorney.
I have to take this."
He stepped just outside the door, pulling it almost closed behind him.
I could hear the low rhythm of his voice but not the words.
I looked at my own phone.
The unknown number's last message was still on the screen.
I typed back: *Who are you?*
Three dots appeared.
Then stopped.
Then appeared again.
*Someone who tried to report her fourteen months ago and was told there wasn't enough evidence.
Someone who has been waiting for someone else to see what I saw.*
My hands weren't steady.
*Are you Claire?* I typed.
The dots again.
Longer this time.
*No.
Claire doesn't know I'm doing this.
She moved away after.
She doesn't talk about it.
But I was her nurse.
I was the one who wrote the note that never got filed properly.
I've thought about that note every day since.*
I read it twice.
*What's your name?* I asked.
*It doesn't matter right now.
What matters is that Isabella knows the footage exists and she knows you've seen the report.
She won't accept that quietly.
She'll move to discredit you.
She'll contact people who know you.
She'll build a story about your mental state, your stability, your fitness as a mother.
She's done it before.*
The door opened.
Marcus came back in.
"The attorney wants us to file a formal complaint with hospital administration tonight, while the footage is still secured," he said.
"She also wants—" He stopped when he saw my face.
"What happened?"
I handed him the phone.
He read it.
Read it again.
"A nurse," he said.
"She wrote the note about Claire.
She's been carrying it for over a year."
"Can we trust her?"
"She knew about the footage before we told anyone.
She knew about the report.
She knew Isabella's name and her method." I looked at him.
"She's not guessing."
Marcus handed the phone back and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Isabella said something before she left," I said.
"She said I have everything and I don't even see it."
"She's jealous."
"It's more than that." I thought about her face when she said it.
The confusion underneath the words.
"I think she genuinely believes that.
I think she's been believing it for a long time and it became something else.
Something that needed an outlet."
"That's not your problem to solve."
"I know." I looked at the window.
Dark outside now.
"But I keep thinking about Claire.
About what she lost.
And I keep thinking — if that nurse hadn't written that note, even a note that went nowhere — we wouldn't have known.
We'd have had no reason to look."
Marcus took my hand.
"She did write it," he said.
"And we do know."
My phone buzzed one more time.
*There's something else.
Something that wasn't in the report because Claire never told anyone.
She told me the night before she was discharged.
I think you need to hear it.
May you like
But I need to know you're safe first.*
*Are you still in the hospital?*
